Mistake
by Risti
Summary: Daniel's tie is feeling just a little too tight this evening. Vala would love to help.


"Well_ that _was a mistake."

Daniel rolled his eyes, not even waiting until he'd entered his room to loosen the tie that had felt more and more like a chokehold around his neck as the evening wore on.

"You had to try, darling."

Vala's hotel in Washinton had only been one door over from Daniel's, but even if it had been across the hotel Daniel had a feeling it would have felt natural for her to end up here. He was too tired, and quite frankly, a little too drunk to have give her more than a token protest of a raised eyebrow as she slunk in the door behind him.

"The SGC is a military operation. That means it's supposed to be _outside_ of politics. If I wanted to become a politician, I'd go find a nice, peaceful planet with a primitive culture and get them to crown me King."

"Well, if that's really what you want, I could probably arrange it."

Daniel snorted, and went back to removing his tie. Or attempting to. It seemed much more complicated than it did normally, which made Daniel pause while he tried to remember just _how many_ glasses of champagne he'd taken from the always-replenished trays offered by an ever-present crew of non-descript servers all evening long. While he was still distracted, Vala stepped up to free him from its silk constraints.

"Of course, in exchange for setting you up as King of the world, I would have to make one teensy tiny personal request." The tie was in her hands, but Vala wasn't moving out of his personal space. This time, he didn't even bother to protest against how natural that felt.

"Oh?" Daniel felt himself asking. He gave her only a hint of a smile, but it was the first genuine one he'd cracked all evening. "What request would that be."

Vala was running the silver silk of his tie through her fingers, and Daniel found his eyes riveted to the movement. "It's quite simple, darling." Vala smirked when Daniel jumped back a bit. She'd thrown the tie back around his neck, while still maintaining a firm grip on both ends. "I'd insist on being Queen."

With those words she gave a tug on the tie, and Daniel felt himself quite literally pulled into a kiss. It began with a fierce sort of passion, but evolved into something quite different when Vala let go of the tie. The finger she trailed down Daniel's cheek was almost tentative, and it was something in that touch that made Daniel press his hand against her back when she went to move away moments later. There was something genuine, something _real_ in that moment that he needed to latch onto after an evening of pretense and preening, all in the name of politics.

What followed after that was a blur of silky fabrics, ivory skin, and far too many buttons. Daniel was pretty certain that when they finally fell back onto the bed, his tie was gripped once again in Vala's hands.

The first hint of dawn was mixing with the constant glow of city lights, casting shadows across the room. Sitting in the uncomfortable hotel chair, Daniel sat, sober, staring at the bed and the women who's limbs he'd untangled himself from only minutes earlier. Vala had appeared to continue sleeping, but now, stretching herself taut in a way that shot straight through Daniel, she seemed to notice her solitairy state on the bed. Opening her eyes, she blinked several times, and Daniel was able to catch the exact moment her focus fell on him.

"This was a mistake," he spoke, before she could say anything that might put a spell over his common sense.

Vala paused, and for three seconds there was a confused look in her eyes. Then her movement slipped back into a dance of seduction as she sat up before stepping towards Daniel, who held up her dress from the night before as a shield.

"Put this back on, go back to your room, and we'll talk about this later, when we've both had a chance to get some sleep and remember our responsibilities."

The hurt in Vala's eyes remained longer than the confusion had, but eventually her expression sharpenned. When it did, Daniel turned to stare out the window. Crimson streaks were shooting across the silver sky. He'd seen so many different suns rise, but here on earth, he was almost always buried twenty six stories underground. He sometimes forgot how that made him miss out on sights like this.

The light had grown brighter, but less intense, beginning it's spread across the sky before Daniel heard his door open and shut.

He watched the rest of the sunrise before crawling back into bed, picking the sheet off of the floor to throw over his eyes to block out the light.


End file.
